Daddy Was the President (U.S.) Quiz

Answer: John Adams

John Adams was the second President of the United States, succeeding George Washington. He served from March 4, 1797 to March 4, 1801 and was the first President to live in the White House, moving in shortly after it was completed in 1800. Adams, who served as Washington's Vice-President for both terms, was appointed by the Continental Congress to serve on the committee which drafted the Declaration of Independence (along with Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston).

His son, John Quincy Adams, also served as President of the United States.

Answer: William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison served the shortest presidency on record. He served for exactly one month - from March 4, 1841 to April 4, 1841. Harrison achieved national prominence during the War of 1812, when he defeated Tecumseh's army at the battle of Tippecanoe. Henceforward he bore the nickname Old Tippecanoe and the Whig campaign slogan in 1840 was "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too" (Tyler was John Tyler,Harrison's running mate, who became President on Harrison's death.) Harrison was 68 when he was elected, and until Ronald Reagan became President, was the oldest man to have held that office. His inaugural speech was also something of a record - 8,444 words that took two hours to deliver in pouring rain! The persistent legend that he died of inflammation of the lungs brought on by that experience is merely that, a legend. Harrison showed no sign of illness until March 26 when he came down with a severe cold. His immune system was impaired because he was run-down by his heavy schedule and his doctors were no match for the virus which felled him. He died nine days later, making history as the first U.S. President to die in office.

Harrison holds another record of sorts - his must have been the largest nose ever to dominate a Presidential face. Visit www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents (my source for this quiz) and take a look at his official portrait. Jimmy Durante would have to take a back seat to that schnozz!

Answer: John Tyler

John Tyler was William Henry Harrison's Vice-President and succeeded Harrison just one month after the inauguration! If you were picturing a wife worn out by bearing all those children, save your sympathy. The first seven progeny were by Tyler's first wife, Letitia, and the last eight were the children he sired on his second wife, Julia. Tyler served as President from April 4, 1841 to March 4, 1845. During Tyler's term of office the Vice-Presidency remained vacant.

Answer: Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor was elected in 1848, inaugurated March 4, 1849 and died on July 9, 1850. Taylor was a military man and served in the War of 1812, the Blackhawk War, the Second Seminole War, and the Mexican-American War. The troops he commanded referred to him affectionately as 'Old Rough and Ready' because, despite his aristocratic background (he was the son of a wealthy plantation owner and was related to both James Madison, a second cousin, and Robert E. Lee, a third cousin), Taylor was an unaffected fellow, who enjoyed the camaraderie of the officers and men who served under him. He was immensely popular and the Whigs tagged him as their presidential candidate, with Millard Fillmore as his running mate. Taylor was no politician (he'd never even voted) and certainly declined to dance to the Whig leadership's tune. He ran the country in the same way that he ran his military commands - hands on and with an eye to the practical rather than the political.

Taylor's death has been surrounded by mystery almost since Day One. The official reason for his death five days after his collapse on July 4 was acute gastroenteritis, but many suspected foul play. At the July 4 celebrations in Washington in 1850 Taylor presided over the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument. Despite the weather, which was unbearably hot and humid, he was wearing full formal dress - a wool top coat, vest, high-collared shirt and top hat. He complained of thirst and downed an entire pitcherful of water which had been sitting out in the sun, causing some to suspect cholera as the cause of death. His speech became slurred shortly after drinking the water, he had difficulty walking and his face was flushed - all signs of heat stroke. Back in 1850 doctors were unaware that heat stroke can cause damage to the internal organs. By the time his aides got Taylor back to the White House he ws incoherent, and soon lapsed into a coma. He died on July 9.

Rumours of assassination persisted into the present day and in June, 1991, Taylor's body was exhumed and an autopsy was carried out. Samples of hair and tissue indicated the presence of arsenic but at such low levels that poisoning would not have been the cause of death. The underlying cause of his sudden death remains a mystery.

Answer: James Monroe

The fifth President, James Monroe served two consecutive terms, from 1817 to 1825. During his presidency Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine and Missouri were admitted as States of the Union. Monroe also refuted the interference of European nations (particularly France) in the affairs of the United States.

This later became known as the Monroe Doctrine, and was expanded to include all foreign powers. He was the third president (after Adams and Jefferson) to die on July 4.

Answer: Andrew Johnson

As anyone who loves coincidences will tell you, Andrew Johnson succeeded Abraham Lincoln when the Great Emancipator was assassinated in April, 1865 (the only other Johnson to serve as President - Lyndon B. - succeeded that other well-known victim of assassination, JFK), and he served as President until 1869.

Born in North Carolina, Johnson was serving as U.S. Senator for Tennessee when the war between the States broke out and he was the only southerner not to resign his post. He threw his support wholeheartedly behind Lincoln and his policies during the Civil War. Following the end of the war and his ascendancy to the Presidency, Johnson was conciliatory to the Confederate leadership and this brought him into fierce confrontation with the radical Republicans who gained control of Congress in 1866. In 1868, Johnson made history as the first President to be impeached, on a bill brought in by the radical Republicans in the House of representatives. However, Johnson was exonerated by a single vote in the Senate.

During Johnson's presidency, the United States acquired Alaska from Russia.

Answer: James A. Garfield

Garfield served as President for only six months (the second shortest term after Harrison's one month in office), and was the second President to be assassinated. Garfield's death did not occur within hours of being shot by Charles Guiteau on July 2, 1881.

The President hovered between life and death until blood poisoning and bronchial pneumonia combined with either a massive heart attack or a ruptured spleen to put paid to his life. He was succeeded by Chester A. Arthur. Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln served as Garfield's Secretary of War (in those days they called things by their proper names. Nowadays that cabinet position is Secretary of Defense!)

Answer: Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland was both the 22nd and the 24th President of the United States, and the only President ever to serve two non-consecutive terms. His first term was from 1885 to 1889, and the second from 1893-1897. He had also served as Sheriff of Erie County, Mayor of Buffalo and Governor of New York prior to serving as President.

He is also remarkable in that he was the only Democratic president elected in an era dominated by the Republicans - 1860 to 1912. His admirers and even some of his political opponents (Theodore Roosevelt for one) alike praised him for his honesty and integrity.

Answer: Calvin Coolidge

Three Presidents have died on Independence Day July 4 (Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in 1826 and James Monroe in 1831) but, to date, Calvin Coolidge is the only President born on that auspicious day. Coolidge served as Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts from 1916 to 1919 and Governor of that state from 1919 to 1921.

He resigned the governorship to run as Warren Harding's Vice-Presidential candidate and served in that capacity from March 4, 1921 to August 2, 1923 when he became President following Harding's death.

He was elected President on his own merit in 1923 and served until 1929. His term(s) of office are notable for his downsizing of government. The quintessential New Englander (he was born in Vermont and moved to Massachusetts as a young man) Coolidge was a quiet, serious man.

However, that didn't mean that he didn't have a sense of humour. Mrs. Coolidge, a lively, fun-loving former schoolteacher used to tell friends that shortly after they were married, Calvin presented her with a bag containing 52 pairs of socks, all with holes in them.

She said, "Did you marry me to darn your socks?" Without even a hint of a smile, Calvin answered, "No, but I find it mighty handy." There's also the delightful story about the Washington hostess who accosted the President at a dinner party and said, "Mr. President, I've made a bet that I can get more than two words out of you." Coolidge said, "You lose." Another story has Mrs. Coolidge suffering from a cold and unable to accompany her husband to church one Sunday. When Calvin returned home, Mrs. C. asked what the sermon was about. "Sin," responded Calvin. "And what did the preacher say about sin?" coaxed Mrs. C. "He was against it," was Calvin's alleged reply. Indeed, so taciturn was Coolidge that when he died, that well-known wit Dorothy Parker is said to have exclaimed, "How can they tell?"

Answer: William Howard Taft

Weighing in at a top weight of 332 lbs, William Howard Taft was the heaviest of all the U.S. Presidents, and served in that office from 1909 to 1913. He was not the least bit sensitive about his size and enjoyed the jokes at his expense, particularly a comment made by one of Cabinet members, Elihu Root, the Secretary of War. Taft told Root that he had been horseback riding earlier that morning and felt invigorated by the experience, whereupon Root quipped, "How does the horse feel?" I could find no reliable source for the legend that Taft had the bathtub in the Presidential suite at the White House removed and replaced by a larger one that would accommodate his girth. Taft is the only President to have served as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (an office he held from July, 1921 to February, 1930, when he retired for health reasons (he died on March 8, 1930).